By Stephen A Russell. ABC Entertainment. Topic: Director. Steven Soderbergh has directed 33 feature films and eight TV programs. While he wouldn't describe himself as a believer in the supernatural, per se, director Steven Soderbergh is less spooked than most by the idea of what might be there in the shadows. Growing up in Charlottesville, Virginia, he was used to a steady stream of strangers discussing paranormal scenarios. I didn't think it was ridiculous, but it didn't attract me at all. That said, he could feel how viscerally the visitors felt their encounters.
Penned by Jurassic Park screenwriter David Koepp, Presence, the latest film from the Oscar-winning director draws on his mum's uncanny milieu, pulling back the veil between worlds to create an intriguing take on the haunted-house genre that up-ends expectations. Lucy Liu plays Rebekah, a no-nonsense businesswoman who snaps up the sprawling suburban house β within which the entire film plays out β for a bargain price. But even before we meet the clan, we're privy to an unusual phenomenon, perceiving the house's darkened nooks and crannies from the sweeping camera's point of view, as if we are the unseen presence lurking here.
Is it well-meaning or malignant? Soderbergh had hoped to work with Liu for ages. When he handed the screenplay for Presence to casting director Carmen Cuba, she knew it was time. Soderbergh's teenage bedroom was "a total boy cave of cinema", inspired by his movie-buff dad, Peter, an academic. I wanted to know what 'directed by' meant and who Steven Spielberg was. His previous obsession for baseball went out the window and a life focused on making movies began, with Soderbergh's first feature β the provocatively named Sex, Lies and Videotape, starring Andie MacDowell and James Spader β debuting at the Sundance Film Festival in Naming was a big deal for Presence, too.
Chloe's bedroom, in Presence, is adorned with teenage passions, just as Soderbergh's once was. Kids go through phases of being obsessed with things, and then they tear those down. Your loyalties are shifting all the time. And sometimes those posters β or a wardrobe shelf β come down unexpectedly, sending a shiver up your spine. Soderbergh says the concept behind Presence is "probably the simplest idea" he's had. They're primal. Because obviously, the big question on the table that isn't answered until the last shot is, 'Who is this?
A reluctant woman with second sight is brought in by Chris to hopefully answer the question, much to Rebekah's annoyance. There was nothing freaky about it. It was shockingly banal.
